


Obelus: Doubt The Tale

by Lion_owl



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Coda, Episode Tag, Episode: s04e07 The Secret Sharer, Established Relationship, Gwaine Knows, Gwaine knows about Merlin's magic, M/M, gwaine pov, nobody trusts agravaine (except arthur obv), the fic summary... isn't great
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 10:55:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14163309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lion_owl/pseuds/Lion_owl
Summary: Gwaine's got back to Camelot and Gaius is safe; now, he's worried about what's become of Merlin. But soon they're reunited and they talk everything out.





	Obelus: Doubt The Tale

**Author's Note:**

> It's finally finished and it only took 5 years! most of it was originally written in 2013, and like the vast majority of my fics from pre-2015, it went unpublished and was left to gather dust. I've dug out all my old works and am in the process of completing and/or redrafting some to be posted.

“We found him,” Gwaine told Arthur. “He’d been kidnapped. He’s in a bad way.”

He sent a pointed glare in Agravaine’s direction, before following the knights who were carrying Gaius to his chambers. He daren’t leave him alone.

His stomach twisted at the thought of another, one he _had_ left alone, who could be dead at Morgana’s hand by now. He pushed the thought away – he’d given Merlin his word that he would protect Gaius no matter what.

The knights laid Gaius on his bed and Gwaine began tending to his wounds – a life unanchored didn’t leave you without at least a little basic knowledge in the most crucial areas of survival – and when Gwen arrived they worked together to stabilise him until there was nothing left to do but to let him rest and recuperate on his own. Arthur and Agravaine stood by the door and watched.

Gwen sat beside the bed, a bowl of water on the table and a dampened cloth in her hand, to monitor Gaius’ fever, and Gwaine hovered beside them, feeling like a loose limb, thoughts of Merlin playing on his mind. When Merlin had told him to get Gaius back to Camelot even if it meant leaving him, Gwaine had made to protest immediately, but Merlin’s stance had told him there would be no arguing.

Gwaine knew Merlin’s magic was vastly more than a match for Morgana’s, and she didn’t stand a chance; that is, if Merlin chose to use it to defend himself. Gwaine’s fear was that Merlin would choose to protect his secret instead. What good would that do him if he were dead?

“You should go and find him,” Gwen said, her tone warm and understanding. They both knew exactly who she meant. “I’ll take care of Gaius.”

He knew he could trust Gwen. And he could tell her. He _had_ to tell her, if he was going to leave her with Gaius. He glanced up, to make sure he wouldn’t be overheard, before whispering. “Whatever you do, don’t let Agravaine alone with him.”

“I know,” she said. “Merlin told me when I came to see how he was.”

He felt a brief twinge of hurt then, unable to imagine Merlin snapping at Gwen the way he had when Gwaine had gone to see him – a twinge that was quickly surpassed by guilt at the unfairness of his hurt: Merlin had been hurting of his own, hurting for the loss of Gaius, for Arthur’s reaction to the accusations of his betrayal, and Gwen had the kindest heart Gwaine had ever encountered. What’s more, Gwaine and Merlin both already knew how deeply they cared for each other, and he knew that.

With a nod to Gwen, he left, without a word to Arthur or Agravaine as he passed them at the door, swallowing down an acrimonious remark about what a fool Arthur was being, and fled down the corridor towards the stables.

Along the way, he bumped into Leon, who wanted to know if Gaius was okay.

“No thanks to you,” Gwaine said, feeling particularly foul about Leon telling Arthur that a horse had been taken even though he had agreed that it was highly unlikely Gaius was responsible for that. The other knights didn't know about Agravaine's treachery, but they weren't _quite_ so swayed by him as Arthur.

“I’m sorry,” Leon said. “I couldn’t lie to the king, and I couldn’t have hidden from him forever.”

“Save it,” Gwaine said, his tone softer but no warmer. He could talk things out with Leon when he knew that Merlin was safe. Until then, he was in no mood to accept apologies or explanations from anyone.

He turned on his heel and continued on his way.

He had barely turned the corner before he was accosted by Arthur, who wanted to debrief them on what had happened. And so he was forced to sit in the council room and listen as Agravaine postured on and on about their heroic rescue mission, and distracted himself both from the stream of nonsense and from his worry for Merlin with thinking about how good it would feel to watch Agravaine drop dead with a sword in his gut. 

Then Arthur finally asked the burning question:

“Where’s Merlin?”

“I made the call to leave him behind,” Agravaine said without a beat, then, upon the less than pleased look he received from Arthur, elaborated: “Gaius was close to death, it could have taken hours to find Merlin in those caves. I didn’t think we should risk losing Gaius when I knew Merlin could make his own way back.”

Gwaine bit his tongue. Hard. They’d left Merlin behind because if they went to look for him they would have found Morgana and that would have exposed Agravaine’s true loyalty for certain. As though there could be any doubt left in Gwaine’s mind: who in the world uses a knife to check if someone is still breathing by holding it to their face and seeing if the blade steams up? Just how bloody stupid does Agravaine think Gwaine is? If he had left Agravaine behind in order to find Merlin, he would surely have killed Gaius.

The answer seemed to placate Arthur, though.

“If he’s not back within the hour, I want you to dispatch a patrol immediately to go and find him.”

“Of course,” Agravaine gave a courteous nod.

“I must go and speak to Gaius.”

They all stood from the table as Arthur strode out of the room with purpose in his step. Gwaine caught Agravaine’s smirk and whirled on him, hand automatically moving to the hilt of his sword.

“You’ve shown your true colours once again,” Gwaine spat, glaring, daring him to come closer at his own peril. “Arthur may swallow your rubbish, but evidently he doesn’t know you like I do. Gaius is not the only one who has been keeping an eye on you.”

Agravaine made a good offended face. “You cannot speak to me like that.”

“Tell that to my parents.”

“I’ll have your head for this.”

“Do your worst, Agravaine,” Gwaine tightened his grip on his sword hilt. “The most you can expect from Arthur is my banishment, because he’s a _good_ man. And I swear, if you hurt any more people that I care about…”

He left the threat hanging and stalked out of the room before he could make good on it.

Within the hour be damned – Gwaine intended to go and look for Merlin immediately. He’d already left it far too long. He was half way to the stables when he saw the very person he was looking for disappear up a set of stairs. Breathing out a sigh of relief, he headed after him.

Merlin was outside the door of Gwaine’s chambers when he caught up to him; he was a conflicting image: with one hand raised ready to knock, the other poised on the handle ready to walk right in.

“Looking for someone?” Gwaine asked.

Merlin turned to see him, and he smiled widely, but it was tempered with sadness. “Arthur gave me the morning off,” he said.

“He did?” Gwaine asked. Damn right, he thought, after what he put Merlin through he should give him at least three days off.

“I think so, anyway. I’m not sure.” Merlin looked like he was barely holding it together. “You know what? Today, I don’t care. His chambers will survive for a few hours.”

“Have you seen Gaius?” Gwaine asked. He didn’t _think_ Merlin wouldn’t have gone there first, but wanted to be sure. He didn’t want to be the one to keep Merlin away from him.

“I sat with him for a while as soon as I got back, then Arthur arrived. To _apologise_.” He laughed, but it rang hollow.

“In that case, would you like to come in? No fun to be had standing in the hallway all morning.”

Merlin seemed to hesitate, so Gwaine took his hand and led him through the door. Then, Merlin launched himself at him, pulling him into a hug with such a fervent force they both nearly fell over.

“I’m so sorry,” Merlin said into his neck, his breath tickling Gwaine’s ear, and Gwaine could feel Merlin was shaking. He pulled back just far enough to see Merlin’s face, and with one arm still encircled his back, he wiped a stray tear from Merlin’s cheek.

“I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that,” Merlin said. “When you came to see me, while I was looking for Gaius. It was rude.”

 _You didn’t really think I believed Gaius was the traitor?_ Gwaine wanted to ask, _that I would trust Agravaine of all people?_ But that felt like only adding insult to injury. On the other hand, Merlin had been rude, and Gwaine didn’t want to just completely brush it away, act like it didn’t matter.

“I forgive you,” he said instead. “I realise it wasn’t personal.”

“It wasn’t,” Merlin looked like he was about to start crying. “I love you, and I never wanted to hurt you.”

If there had been any fight in Gwaine, it wasn’t there any more. “I love you too, and it’s in the past.”

More tears spilled Merlin’s face as he nodded, but averted his gaze. Gwaine kissed at them, wishing he could make them go away. Make it all go away.

“I don’t think I would have found him in time if it hadn’t been for your help,” Merlin said. “Thank you.”  

“I came as soon as I could,” Gwaine said, feeling suddenly as though whatever he had done could never have been enough. “Arthur had us training extra hard – you know how he gets when he has some steam to let off.”

That drew a mildly positive reaction from Merlin – it couldn’t entirely be called a laugh or a smile, but it was a start.

“Hey,” Gwaine said softly. Their faces were still close so he lifted Merlin’s chin with a finger and kissed him gently. It was salty, but he felt just an iota of the tension leave Merlin’s body. “When was the last time you slept?”

“Uhh…” Merlin looked sheepish. It couldn’t have been the night just ended because they’d spent all of it looking for Gaius.

“You’ll feel better for some rest,” Gwaine said, firmly guiding Merlin towards the bed. He helped Merlin strip down to his smalls, and allowed Merlin to do the same for him, and climbed under the covers, wrapping his arms tightly around Merlin and pulling him into a close embrace.

They hadn’t been lying in silence for all that long before Merlin spoke again.

“Did you know Agravaine is the traitor?”

“I had my suspicions. I’ve never trusted him.”

“ _Never_?” Merlin asked, before Gwaine realised what he was saying. “’Never’ as in, ‘not since he came to Camelot’?” Merlin asked, his voice making it clear he believed otherwise, opening up the conversation to a route Gwaine didn’t particularly want to walk down. He decided he would tell, but keep it brief:

“You know the story of my father’s death and my mother’s resultant poverty,” he began.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” Merlin said.

“It’s okay. The battle my father died in… they would have won it, but for the fact they were attacked before it began when their enemy found out where the patrol was hiding. My mother’s cousin was the one who gave away their location.”

“Agravaine,” Merlin concluded. Then he realised, “ _Agravaine_? You’re related to him? And Arthur! You’re related to Arthur.”

“My mother came from Camelot. Agravaine has always been treacherous. It’s his nature. How long had you known he was the traitor?”

Merlin turned over onto his other side so they were face to face, and studied Gwaine for a few long moments, in which he wasn’t sure Merlin was going to answer.

“Gaius had his suspicions all along, Agravaine confirmed it shortly after we got back from the Isle of the Blessed…” he trailed off, no doubt thinking of Lancelot, for whom they were all still grieving. But there was something else. “He came and asked Gaius if he knew who the sorcerer Emrys was.”

“Something he was no doubt asking on Morgana’s behalf. Is that why they abducted him recently?”  

“Yes. Thankfully they never got the answer.” There was something about the way Merlin said it, almost as though he was disappointed that Emrys’ identity was still a secret.

An idea as to why was forming in Gwaine’s head. He knew Merlin often hated having to keep his magic a secret. “Lucky for Emrys,” he said, testing the water.

“Yeah, at least he’ll be alive. People can go on thinking he’s a total buffoon.” The bitterness in Merlin’s voice stung.

“I don’t think you’re a buffoon, if that means anything.” He stroked a hand through Merlin’s hair.

“When did you figure it out?” Merlin asked, but he didn’t sound shocked or scared, or even resigned. He didn’t sound curious or tired, either.

“Just now, Actually. But let me tell you a little more about this Emrys, whoever he is: he’s not a buffoon, he’s one of the wisest people I’ve ever known; he’s compassionate and good-natured and incredibly fun, and I’ve never felt more at home around another person. Not to mention, he’s dead handsome and excellent in bed.”

Merlin grinned at this, and Gwaine grinned with him, thrilled to have finally cheered Merlin up.

“Well whoever he is, I’m certain his heart belongs to a certain dashing knight, the charming Sir Gwaine of Camelot, you might have heard of him,” Merlin said, and kissed him.

The expression on Merlin’s face was now purely a joyful one. Finally content, he rested his head on the pillow, and their foreheads touched as they closed their eyes...

“We can’t tell Arthur,” Merlin said, just as Gwaine was drifting off.

“Hmm?”

“We can’t tell Arthur about Agravaine.”

“We should, but I know we can’t,” Gwaine said without opening his eyes.

“Can I count on you to help me keep any of his schemes from succeeding?”

“Of course you can,”

“That makes four.”

“One other thing about Emrys: sometimes he doesn’t know when to stop worrying and go to sleep,” he chastised.

“Sorry.”

Gwaine gave a light sigh and pressed a kiss to Merlin’s forehead, then shuffled a little down the bed and rested his head against Merlin’s chest, settling with an arm around his waist. “Get some sleep before Arthur comes looking for us.”

And sleep, they did.

**Author's Note:**

> In the legends, Gawain and Agravaine are brothers and both the nephews of Arthur. I wanted to keep the fact that they were related, but the show's canon doesn't allow them to be too closely related, so i went with Agravaine being Gwaine's mum's cousin.


End file.
